


Changing of Light

by starbboy



Series: waiting for it, that green light [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Green Lantern - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Gen, HEAVILY referenced jaykyle and halguy, Injury, Jason Todd gets more hugs, Protective Jason Todd, innuendos and copious swearing, no beta we die like jason todd, sue me i just think they're cute, the introduction of Guy's blanket obsession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24760729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbboy/pseuds/starbboy
Summary: Okay, so. Unsurprisingly, Jason wasn’t expecting to find Guy passed out on the couch, slightly blood stained bandages peeking out from where his shirt had ridden up and home a whole two months earlier than expected.Talia calls him a day later, asking to meet up because the universe really doesn't know how to pace itself.
Relationships: Guy Gardner & Jason Todd, Talia al Ghul & Jason Todd
Series: waiting for it, that green light [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774906
Comments: 24
Kudos: 339





	Changing of Light

**Author's Note:**

> pt.2! the boys are back and dumber than ever.  
> i'm sorry if you don't like the ships but i'm a jaykyle hoe on main and the [Star Sapphire AU](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632121) got me into halguy. the ships won't be the main focus but they will bee there in the future

The first time they see each other after Guy leaves back for Oa is a short and a half month after, when Guy is sent home on injured leave.

Sent home is a nice way to say it. The others had basically forced him through the teleporter home, John threatening to knock him out and push him in the general direction of Earth if he had to. None of them even considered accompanying him all the way.

Real nice friends he had.

So, he made his way home in pain and slightly miserably before flying through his window and promptly passing out on his couch. Brilliant, great.

Sick leave - slash - injured vacation was off to a good start.

* * *

Okay, so. Unsurprisingly, Jason wasn’t expecting that. He was out when it happened, shopping for groceries and stopping by the local bookstore when Guy presumably arrived but it was still a shock to see him passed out on the couch, slightly blood stained bandages peeking out from where his shirt had ridden up and home a whole two months earlier than expected.

Jason had continued staying at Guy’s apartment after he took off for space at the redhead’s insistence and, honestly, he found that he didn’t really mind that much. The area was nice and had a decent amount of green spaces and it wasn’t a commonly Bat populated area so he just ended up staying. It wasn’t completely intentional; he’d left after two weeks to run a case and had planned to just move on after that but for some reason he went back. Guy had given him the code for the door, so that wasn’t an issue but it had confused Jason, how fast he had just settled.

Sure, he was still restless but whenever that particular feeling arose, he just grabbed his bike and went for a drive but he still found it a little odd. Over the years he had gotten used to travelling and the feeling of getting over attached to the places they visited had dwindled so it was a bit disconcerting when he found himself missing the area. Still, there was nothing stopping him from returning, no real reason to move on so he came back. 

He felt less of a need to go back and stake his claim in Gotham too, which was nice. Made him feel less crazy.

But he distinctly remembered Guy saying he’d be back in three ‘or so’ months if Jason “wanted to hang” and unless the laws of time had changed without anyone telling him Guy was slightly too early. 

Well, he supposed it was good that he bought a little more than needed at the grocery store just now.

He put the bags down on the kitchen counter before moving over to check on Guy. He tried to shift the man as gently as he could, cautious of the _several_ bandaged areas of his body? What the hell had Guy done to get all those? They mostly looked like odd burns, a few large scrapes here and there, the kind of injuries you’d sustain from being too close to a blast and then being thrown back like a sad little rag doll. Although, lifting up Guy’s shirt to investigate further he realized most of the burns we’re centred around his chest and upper torso. A targeted blast then, like the ones Kori had used sometimes.

Didn’t the ring protect them from this kind of stuff? Or dampen the blow at least? He could remember Kyle explaining a few of the mechanics to him back on their multiverse adventure and he was pretty sure the lantern had mentioned that. 

Hell couldn’t Guy throw up a green shield? Or dodge the blast? 

He better be ready when he wakes up because Jason would be armed with bandages and painkillers and he had _questions._

But for now, he would just check the first aid kit and make dinner. He considered moving Guy to the bed but those burns seemed pretty bad and he didn’t want to hurt Guy by jostling him.

Instead Jason sighed, and set about preparing homemade chicken nuggets, switching on his playlist and humming along as he cooked.

He was halfway through the fifth song, some Florence and the Machine song which he couldn’t remember the name of but knew all the lyrics to, with the chicken nuggets ready on a tray to go in the oven when Guy’s ring lit up and a small holographic figure started popped up and started speaking through it.

And that was a bit odd in itself, Jason knew the Lanterns could talk to each other through their rings but he figured it was a bit more like phones, they had to accept before it could go through, yet hear he was listening to a voice speak through Guy’s ring.

Someone he hadn’t seen in a while, a voice he hadn’t heard in a while, which did some unwelcome things to his emotions.

“Hey Guy, just checking to see that you got home alright, you’re probably back right now unless you went and got yourself kidnapped - which I wouldn’t put past you.” Kyle Rayner said, Californian accent and green light filling the room. “Hal’s still freaking out that you jumped in front of that blast for him, although he’s pretending he’s fine. John thinks it was a dumb decision since it hit you worse than it would have hit him apparently. Ring call one of us if you get this, maybe me since Hal and John seem dead set on giving you lectures. And remember that you aren’t allowed back into space for at least two weeks. Get better soon Guy and try not to make it worse.”

The message stopped and the light dimmed down to normal, leaving Jason sitting alone in silence on the floor of the living area.

Kyle looked and sounded better. More confident, if a little exasperated and tired but Jason could understand that. He remembered back on their multiverse adventure, Kyle had this nervous energy around him, especially at first, when the two butted heads like there was no tomorrow. It didn’t really affect him, he was still stubborn and slightly abrasive towards Jason (Jason figured it was because Kyle thought he would come in between him and Donna which, as a raging homosexual, Jason though was hilarious and decided to egg on. Donna was slightly less amused) but sometimes he seemed a little unsure. It went away after they stopped bickering as much, when Kyle finally warmed up to him and his (at the time) slightly crazy disposition.

But he seemed different now, sounded a little older, and maybe a little happier? Jason was thinking slightly too deep into this.

But a part of him did miss Kyle, as much as he refused to admit it. They got on well near the end of their journey, and he was fun company, or funny company, when he was trying to be like those pretentious “deep” artists. Donna and Jason took turns ribbing him then as he turned this endearing shade of pink. It was a nice atmosphere, especially compared to all the other shit he was going through at the time. 

A groaning from the couch pulled him away from his Kyle Thoughts and he looked up to see a slightly delirious Guy coming to on the couch.

“Sleeping beauty finally joins us, huh? How are ya feeling?” Jason chuckled, moving to stand up.

Guy reached out and gently grabbed his arm. Tugging into a awkward lying down hug

“You stayed.”

“Wen’ off for a bit but yeah, is that okay?”

“‘F course, it’s good to see ya, you look better.” It was nice to hear that, there weren’t many places he was wanted these days. Jason smiled, the corners of his mouth twitching up and his eyes crinkling.

“Can’t say the same about you, tha’s a nasty wound you got. You good to sit up? Wanna change your bandages before dinner.”

Guy smiled lazily and made a small noise of agreement, clearly still slightly delirious from his impromptu nap, before shuffling into a sitting position and blinking slowly.

“How bad ‘sit?”

“‘S not as bad as it looks, sorry if I gave ya a fright Jace.”

Yeah, it had been a losing battle trying to get rid of that nickname, every time he tried to contest it Guy would just make a construct and announced that he had “indomitable will” and that Jason could not stop him. It seemed that Jason had the lottery on redheads with an affinity for giving him nicknames. Secretly, very deep down in the dusty catacombs of Jason’s mind, he didn’t mind the nickname but he wanted to uphold a small part of his reputation at least. 

“That's okay fine I’ve seen worse.”

Guy hums in response, while Jason tends to his wounds, they’d done a decent job on Oa but clearly rushed, or by someone who didn’t have much clue about human physiology (which honestly, Jason thought, by this point they should considering they keep gaining human Green Lanterns who get injured easily) and Jason was a bit concerned about the probability of infection from alien blast so he took extra care. 

“You got a ring message from Kyle while you were conked out, by the way.”

“Oh, what’d it say?”

“Hope you got home safe, Jordan’s freaking out, John is disappointed, don’t be dumb, call me xoxo Kyle.”

Guy snorted. “Exactly that or are ya paraphrasing?”

“Exactly that, who d’ya think I am to give false information.” Jason grinned back, “Mm. Although, mind telling me why you decided to jump in front of an attack meant for Hal Jordan? Like every fucking cliché movie scene ever?”

He had the decency to look embarrassed at least, the faint freckles on the top of his cheekbones disappearing under the red.

“Uhh later? ‘M hungry.”

Jason sighed, still smiling and failing to be mad. “Later, but only because I’m a nice person with good morals who doesn't interrogate injured people. D’you wanna get up and help me with food?”

Guy grinned and grabbed Jason’s arm to pull himself up before stretching and opening his arms in question. Laughing slightly when Jason wrapped his arms round him gently, so as to avoid his myriad of wounds. It was nice hugging him again, Guy was kind of like a slightly muscled teddy bear, he ran warm, which was relaxing too - cozy. It was like a milder version of Kori, who ran pretty hot and made a habit of latching onto either Roy or Jason when they worked together. That was always nice for a bit but got pretty sweaty fast, especially in summer or on her island. Roy on the other hand often ran cold, and he was just enough of a jerk to put his cold foot on your cheek if the opportunity arose.

God he missed them, Roy texted when he could, about cases or whatever random shit was on his mind and they met up if the opportunity arose but he was pretty busy these days and Kori had a gig chaperoning the baby heroes, but she popped up if she heard he was in town. 

When he let go Guy grinned again, completely lopsided and amused.

“I swear you’ve grown since I saw ya, Jace. Ya weren’t this tall before.”

“It’s been less than two months and I’m well past my growth spurt.”

“Suuure. Moving on are those chicken nuggets I see?”

Guy did not explain why he had gotten himself injured that night, much to Jason’s annoyance, and had instead gone to sleep straight after dinner, passing out as soon as his head hit the pillow. How Guy could still be tired after his arrival nap, not barely three hours ago, Jason didn’t know. He didn’t bother questioning it, just shuffled Guy over so he’d have some space in the bed and lying down to scroll on his phone.

They’d ended up sharing the bed pretty much every night after Jason’s nightmare, only moving if one of them ended up sleeping sprawled across it and the other couldn’t be bothered to move them. The couch was okay, but not as a permanent fix and they both didn’t mind sharing so it became a habit. It reminded Jason of when the Outlaws all tried to squish into a single bed on cases, clinging to each other as they tried to get comfortable before one or two of them ended up on the floor. Guy had mentioned it was a bit like a few missions he’d done with the guys (“Guy and the guys” he had giggled, a little bit tipsy on that night) where the aliens had mistaken them for a couple or assumed shared beds was a common practise.

Jason noticed though, that when Guy mentioned one instance where it was him and Hal in that situation, his ears went red. Jason wrote it off as the beer at the time, he was a little drunk too so he didn’t really mull it over, but he was beginning to have a few other suspicions.

You know what though? That was for morning, not sleepy Jason to think about. So instead he turned his phone off and went to sleep.

* * *

When he wakes up in the morning, Jason discovers he has other things to think about though, in the form of a letter on the coffee table and a missed call from an unknown number with an English caller ID. 

Talia.

He shouldn’t have been surprised, she was one of his most regular contacts and had made it clear that she cared about Jason and wanted to be kept updated on the going ons from his life. Him changing his phone without warning (the other broke from water damage) and almost completely disappearing from vigilante action was bound to cause some concern.

Guy shuffled into the living room while Jason was reading the letter, hip checking him tiredly in greeting and peering over his shoulder to look at the letter’s context. 

“Wha’s that?” 

“Letter. From my kind of assassin mom?”

“Mm. Should we be worried?”

“Nah, she jus’ wants to catch up, check why I’ve been more on the down low than normal lately, didn’t give me a time or place though - so she might drop in later. I can tell her not to if ya don’t want that.”

“As long as she doesn’t try to kill me or give away the address to a bunch of villains i’s fine. Coffee?”

Jason nodded and walked over to the kitchen to start making pancakes. Guy slumping tiredly at the breakfast bar and reading over the letter.

“Jesus the language ‘s kinda pretentious isn’t it.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” Jason huffed, flipping the pancake. “I think the better term is proper though, ‘s where the new Robin got it from. She tried to get me to speak like that for a while, effort was wasted though, all I did was lose some of the accent.”

“Heh. Don’t think I’ve ever properly heard your accent.” 

“Probably not, it comes and goes, Roy says it only comes out when ‘m either angry, real excited or wasted. ‘S hard to figure out what ‘m saying then though, ‘nless you’re used to it,'' Jason drawled, his shirt riding up slightly as he stretched.

They ate in amicable silence for the most part, a few comments thrown here and there about random subjects and in all honesty, Jason had forgotten about the whole Talia thing until his phone rang with a call from an unknown number, Guy passing it over absentmindedly.

“Hello?”

 _“Habibi.”_ A smooth voice answered, tone slightly amused and making Jason relax.

“Hey T, how’s everything?”

Guy looked up from where he had moved to the sofa questioningly, cocking his head to the side as if to ask who was calling.

 **T A L I A.** Jason signed in response, causing Guy to give him a thumbs up and return to his phone.

“I am well, I trust you got my letter.” 

Straight to the point then, Jason had always admired Talia’s (and to an extent Bruce’s, although that hurt to think about) ability to refrain from giving away personal details. She was a woman of only the necessary amount of words most of the time, but there had been instances where she had monologued or spoken for a while without revealing anything. Jason had gotten the monologuing part down and was able to use words as a weapon just as efficiently as swords, but he seemed prone to revealing information about himself while he did so. It wasn’t his fault that he loved to talk.

“Sure, did T, you gonna give me any more info on that meetup?”

 _“Going to._ Should I, Jason?”

He could hear the teasing tone in her voice, it was nice when she got like that, even if the teasing was at his expense (it usually was). It told him that the League of Shadows and her father weren’t being too hard on her lately, at that she was able to be herself in her usual dramatic way. 

“I mean, you want me to be able to arrive right? Or were you just planning to kidnap me?” Guy snorted softly at that, and Talia hummed down the line.

“You could take my men, there would be no point. I will book a reservation for 3PM tomorrow at the Lebanese restaurant near where you are staying, _Bosa_ I believe it is called. My men informed me it has good lamb. Will your,” She paused slightly, thinking of the appropriate word, _“roommate_ be coming along?”

“Not this time T. 3PM sounds good, see you tomorrow, stay safe yeah?”

“You imply that I normally don’t act safely, Habibi _._ I will see you tomorrow.” And with that she ended the call, Jason had no doubt the phone number would be erased soon, this morning’s call only left there as a warning. He needed to see if Roy could tamper with his phone to make it more secure.

“All good Jace?” Guy asked leaning back so his head was tilted upside down, looking absolutely ridiculous. 

“Yeah, I’m meeting her at that place the next street over tomorrow.”

“Just you? Do I not get to meet you assassin kind-of-mom who had the balls to have sex with Batman?”

“No, you don’t precisely for the reason that I don’t want you to ask one of the world’s most dangerous people about their sex life.”

“Fair enough.” Guy grunts, turning back to resume whatever he’d been doing. He winced as his back straightened up, before quickly switching his expression back to a lazy grin, he wasn’t fast enough though, if his plan was to hide from Jason’s concern because the vigilante sighed inwardly and grabbed the first aid kit he had bought two weeks ago (Guy didn’t own even one first aid kit. _One!_ Just some scattered kiddie bandages and painkillers that made Jason very concerned for him) before settling down next to Guy. Luckily, the lantern got the gist and took his T-Shirt off, before switching on the TV while Jason checked his injuries.

They sat in silence apart from Jason’s occasional request for Guy to move his arm, or warnings about the sensations of burn cream, the TV playing in the background, it was some news programme that Jason knew neither he nor Guy could really keep up with, Guy had his off world duties and politics to worry about - it would be exhausting for him to try and catch up with news and pop culture every time he came back, and since there was no real use he never really bothered. Jason on the other hand mostly just forgot, he used to spend so much time focused on the criminal underworld or working undercover and abroad that he barely had time. Back when he lived in Gotham it was a struggle to keep up with jus Gotham’s News, let alone anywhere else's.

They settled after Jason had finished, sitting back and relaxing as much as they could on the sofa, listening to the news reporters announce whatever in the background and enjoying the Sun that shone through the windows onto Guy’s dead plants.

Guy had never answered Jason’s question from last night and it was bugging him slightly, sure Guy was slightly impulsive of the fight’s they had fought together, Jason had noticed that his fighting style generally relied on split second unsure decisions but this just seemed rash. Guy trusted his fellow lanterns, he had told Jason as much several times, slightly tipsy on the occasion, and Guy knew they were good fighters, could throw up a quick defence, especially to something that Jason figured was just a regular old alien blast. Sure, Hal would have gotten bruised but that was infinitely better than Guy’s seriously injured torso.

So why did he do it? What caused him to jump in front of a blast for his so-called ‘friendly rival’?

Guy had reassured Jason that that was their relationship several times, slightly defensive of the fact and at the time he thought it was just stubbornness and pride that was keeping him from calling them ‘friends’ - It reminded him of a less dysfunctional version of Damian and Tim’s reluctance to call each other brothers but now he was beginning to have doubts over what Guy really considered Hal to be. It was a plausible theory and kind of explained Guy’s reaction to the blast but he’d rather hear it from the man himself rather than make assumptions, and Guy was being sneakily stubborn at avoiding the question.

“You’re thinkin too hard Jace.” 

“Yeah, maybe.” Was the slightly noncommittal reply. Guy frowned and shifted facing Jason, concern etched on his face between the splattering of freckles.

“Wha’s up?” Guy asked, reaching up to rub circles into Jason’s knee in a strangely comforting gesture.

“I was wondering why you did it.” Guy’s face reddened slightly and he smiled innocently.

“Did what?” Jason glared at him. “I dunno Jace, I panicked.” Guy sighed “I saw the blast coming and I didn’t want him to get hurt so I just kinda moved.”

“You knew he could defend himself though.”

“Yeah, but I didn’ think about that at the time. Just wanted to stop him from getting hit, in any way possible apparently.” Guy said, gesturing downwards. His face was almost completely red by this point, and his eyes kept on flicking away from Jason’s face.

“You care about him.”

“I care ‘bout all of them, they’re my partners.” Jason raised an eyebrow and continued to stare at him. “The fuck you want me to say Jace?” Guy said, no real heat behind it. “That I have a crush on Hal? Not exactly what I prepared for when I became a lantern, I didn’t fuckin plan it but he has a good ass and ‘parently my brain thinks he’s got a nice personality so ‘m just gonna have to deal.”

Jason just chuckled and deflated, most of the worry leaving his mind. He ruffles Guy’s hair getting up from the couch.

“I think it’s cute. Kinda gay thing to happen though, friendly rivalry turned lovers, right? And Kyle said Hal was pretty freaked when he ring-messaged ya yesterday, so who knows? Shoot your shot or whatever, I’ve never had a proper relationship this is the best advice I can give you.”

“Sure, Jace. Hal usually panics if one of us gets injured on his behalf, ‘specially Jess, Simon or Kyle.”

“Mm.” If Guy wanted to deflect, he wouldn’t stop him. “You called Kyle back yet? Might wanna let them know you aren’t dead.” 

“Shit, yeah. I’ll do that now.” 

Jason just hummed before moving to the kitchen to make lunch.

* * *

The rest on the day passed in quiet, comfortable silence for the most part. Jason worked on research for a case Roy had asked him to do and Guy phased in and out of naps, still tired from his injury and the medication he took at lunch. He did say some amusing things when drowsy though - still capable of being a little shit when half-awake apparently.

“Jace, we shoul’ go paintballin’”

“You are currently very injured, we’re not gonna do that.”

“Bu’ I’ve never been paintballin’ before? Have you?”

“No.”

“Exa’ly. We should go, i’s gonna be fun.” 

“Maybe when you’re not seriously injured. Now go to sleep.”

Guy had dozed off after that one, another memorable one had been after they saw Superman on the news. Guy still very drowsy, having just woken up.

“Hey Jace. D’you thin’ Big Blue’s even accidentally seen my dick?”

“How would he do that?”

“He’s got X-Ray vision, right? He could probably check unless the suit has anti Superman precautions. Hmm. I bet Batman wears lead pants jus’ in case Supes slips up.”

“I don’t think he does, Guy.”

“Shh you don’ know. He could.”

“Sure, Guy. He could.”

It was entertaining and slightly endearing, but Jason quickly learned that Guy with no filter could also think up some pretty disturbing scenarios.

“Hey, imagine if Hal and Kyle swapped butts.”

Yeah. He didn’t want to think about that, thank you very much.

Luckily by dinner Guy was fully awake and aware of the world around him. Neither Jason nor Guy felt like cooking so they ended up just getting takeout and sitting on the sofa, flicking through Guy’s extensive list of pirated DVDs 

“Bring em up to space to watch in my downtime. Most of my money would be spent on half decent films if I actually bought them.” Was his explanation. Jason has done much worse illegal stuff, including, but not limited to, murder, so he can’t really complain.

It was some indie flick, not really to either of their tastes which Jason honest to god tried to watch for the first act but eventually gave up, letting himself be distracted by the noises filtering in from outside and his and Guy’s absent minded bickering over the food.

They were sprawled on the one couch Guy owned and had piled several blankets around them. If there was one thing Guy had in abundance it was blankets, they were everywhere, each in a garishly different pattern that clashed horrendously with the next. Guy was messy too, not as messy as some people he knew but he had a habit of dropping things on the floor and leaving them there, even as he went off to space. One of the main memories Jason has of the night he first arrived is seeing blankets and clothes strewn on the floor like a particularly fluffy battlefield. It made the apartment cozier though and balanced out all the dead plants Guy had named and couldn’t bring himself to get rid of. He told Jason he wanted to prove he could take care of something but they always ended up dying while he was in space. Couldn’t bring the plants up there either.

“Plants don’t like space. No carbon dioxide or usual sunlight for them to absorb or whatever. So they die either way.” Guy had told him, shrugging. So, he just left the corpses around the apartment as a reminder. Jason wondered what Poison Ivy or Swamp Thing would think about that. 

At some point Guy must have zoned out too, turning the volume down and humming some old pop ballad Jason couldn’t recognise, while eating the last spring roll.

Fucker. Jason had wanted that. Guy knew it as well, grinning with his mouth full of mushed spring roll and cackling when Jason shoved him in mock annoyance. 

Clearing his throat seemingly as loudly as he possibly could Guy flopped back the other way, kicking his feet over the sofa armrest and letting his head fall on Jason’s knee, wincing slightly at the impact before grinning up at an unamused Jason with a smile the screamed trouble. Jason looked down at him, eyebrow raised before whacking his head gently with a takeout container.

“So Jace.” Yeah, this conversation would not be heading in a fun direction for him.

“What.” 

“Any romantic interests I should know about?” Guy asked. In the same tone of voice, teenage girls used to gossip about crushes at sleepovers.

Jason’s mind flicked to Kyle’s message the day before and travelling with the artist a few years ago. He had been charming, in his own ridiculous way and clearly into Donna, which amused Jason to no end because of how awkward it was to watch. He was fun though, after they stopped bickering constantly - had his own sense of humour and managed to fire back at Jason when he got snarky, which was appreciated. He wondered what had changed since he’d seen Kyle, it was hard to keep track of a Guy who worked in space. And why he was thinking about him now. 

Jason shook his head slightly, dispelling the thought’s before answering Guy. “Nah, no one at the moment.”

Guy pouted. “That’s boring.” He hesitated for a few seconds. “We gotta find you somebody to love then. Hey! Like the Queen song! Caaaaaaan-”

“Guy. Please. No.”

“-Anybooodyyyy fiiiind Jason. Somebody tooo loov-mfph” Jason slapped his hand on Guy’s mouth before he got a headache. Really, Guy was able to sing pretty decently, he had a nice baritone that he sometimes used absent-mindedly while doing chores. He just sang awfully on purpose because he was an ass who wanted to piss off Jason or the neighbours.

“Promise you’ll stop singing if I take away my hand?” Jason asks.

The only reply he gets is muffled agreement and Guy licking his palm thoroughly, which is fucking gross but not enough to make him break. He knows Guy’s tactics and he won’t be intimidated.

Tentatively he takes his hand off Guy’s mouth watching the man carefully. He seems like he’s gonna hold up his promise so Jason can rela- 

“Killeeeer Queeeeen!” 

Jason shrieks and wipes his slobbery hand on Guy’s cheek while the other man loses it in hysterics. Eventually, after all the slobber is properly transferred onto Guy’s face Jason joins in giggling quietly - whole body shaking with the effort, the two of them only stop laughing when Guy starts wheezing from pain and even then it takes a good minute to fully calm down. 

They stay in silence for a bit after that, Guy sitting up and poking at his sticky cheek while Jason shakes his leg to help it regain feeling.

The silence stretches on, TV screen blank in the background, the film switched off at some point, although the DVD player is still whirring in harmony with the kitchen appliances behind them.

They get up after a while, it’s late and they’ve both exhausted themselves laughing and screeching Queen songs. Jason feel’s his eyes drooping as he stumbles to the bathroom to change for the night, having managed to pick up some of his own clothes from various nationwide safehouses on his week away. He wasn’t comfortable letting Guy see him change, for all the lines they’ve crossed (sharing a bed, licking each other's hands, they touched feet at one point but that on Guy being a jerk rather than being comfortable around each other) he still wasn’t cool with changing. Jason had scars and marks and things he knew Guy would get angry seeing (not at him mind you, but at his numerous attackers) and while that reaction comforted him in some sense so just wasn’t comfortable. Especially that awful autopsy scar on his chest that wouldn’t fade and still made him slightly sick to look at. Guy didn’t need to see that.

When he tiredly flops on the bed, Guy is already there, using only a thin blanket like the human heat pack he is. Jason shuffles a bit, tucking himself into the duvet and curling up into Guy’s shoulder, it’s bare tonight - freckles just visible in the dark - which Jason doesn’t mind because he used to live with Roy and Kori, both of whom wear the bare minimum of clothing required to share a bed.

He’s drowsy, barely awake but at the same time struggling to get to sleep. Guy’s radiating some sort of nervous energy that’s keeping them both awake. It’s not the first time Jason’s noticed it, he can tell Guy’s been getting fidgety with pent up stress, unable to get rid of it because if his injury and even from before his injured leave his boredom would often manifest into stress after a while. 

Either way, something’s bothering him and it's keeping both of them awake so Jason finds Guy’s hand, squeezing his thumb to let him know he’s listening and waits for Guy to make the next move.

It takes a while (or what seems like one, time is hard to measure in the dark) before Guy speaks, voice quiet and still slightly raspy from laughing.

“I didn’ mean to fall in love with him.”

Hal. The statement is a bit unexpected but Jason stays quiet, figuring it would be easier if Guy said what he wanted without Jason interrupting the flow. 

“‘N it’s dumb but it’s been stuck in my head since I did that dumbshit move jumpin’ in front of him. I gotta tell somebody ‘fore I explode and I trust ya won’t go announcin’ it to the world”

Not like the world would listen to him but he just hums in response.

“‘S just. I knew I liked men when I joined the corps, had a couple hook-ups an’ minor crushes before but like.” Guy sighs, shifting slightly, “my dad was ‘n awful person and he said some shit. A lot of shit actually. Took me a while to unlearn it an’ I did eventually but Hal somehow got past all those shitty mental walls I had at th’ start ‘n now ‘m in love with the idiot and i’s getting gettin’ me hurt an’ I dunno Jace, it’s been years and I haven’t moved on an’ ‘s dumb”

He paused for a second looking down at Jason and smiling slightly. “I swear there was a point I was gettin’ to with all this. Ah well.”

Jason was silent for a moment, becoming less and less aware in his sleepy haze.

“Dads suck”

“Yeah. They do Jace.”

“D’zz anyone else know ya got th’ hots f’r Jordan?”

“John probably knows, observant fucker. Kyle’s oblivious though, woulda told me if he knew.”

“Mm. Kyle.” Jason sleepily agrees, throwing his arm weakly over Guy’s stomach, avoiding the wounds narrowly.

“What ‘bout Kyle, Jace?” Guy replies exhaustion in his tone mixing with mischief. Jason’s too tired to wonder about that though.

“Nice. ‘N pretty.” And with that Jason drifts off into a comfortable, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Would it have been too much to ask for some alien magic to make both of them forget the end of last night’s conversation?

Apparently so because the first thing Guy said to him that morning was not “How was your sleep” or “good morning”. But rather “So. Kyle huh?” 

It was also punctuated with their usual greeting of a hip check and a grin that implied many things which Jason did not want to think about, especially in the morning.

His face betrayed him, heating up immediately, Jason didn’t have to look in a mirror to know a very unflattering blush had appeared on his features. Jason always blushed dramatically if he did, his cheeks, ears and nose and neck staining a noticeable red. All his expressions were dramatic, he realised, unless he focused on making his face blank, it was one of the reasons why he wore the helmet. No matter how much Talia trained him to coach his face into a natural mask he would always be a theatre kid. The plus side of that was that undercover work was a breeze, though.

“No.” Jason grumbled in response, moving to make tea for himself. Guy pouted and leaned against the kitchen counter, the edge digging into his side slightly.

“Why not.” Jason decided not to dignify the question with a response. Guy unfortunately took his silence as an invitation.

“I mean, he’s got a pretty face, and a good chest too, from working out and forgetting to eat. He’s got a good ass too.”

“Oh my god Guy.” Jason groans, burying his face in his hands. Guy decides to continue, tainting Jason’s mind in the process.

“Not as good as Hal’s but it's up there, uniform doesn’t leave much to the imagination so ya can check next time he’s earthside. Weak ass thighs though ‘specially since he probably exercises the most of all us lanterns.” Guy pauses though, enjoying himself way too much, for Jason’s liking, elbowing him in the ribs a dirty grin spread on his face. “Though you cover that base pretty fucking well already.” 

“Jesus Christ.” Jason chugs his black coffee.

“Never seen his dick but it seems like it’d be big ya know? From his everythingness.” Guy helpfully explains, gesturing grandly. Jason tries very hard to keep his mind focused and in the present. 

“Fair warning though, for when you try to jump him.” Jason makes a defeated sound and moves onto his second mug of black coffee; he wonders idly if his eye bags will be more prominent after this conversation. “He can be like intensely protective though, complete zero-to-one-hundred if tha’s your kink but he’s sweet, if he likes you, snarky too. Still an art hoe at heart though, in all the insufferable, ‘sensitive artist’ ways.” 

Jason actually does spit his coffee out at that comment (thankfully into the cup), several parts of his brain shrivelling up as he processes the words “art hoe” said in Guy’s lazy Baltimore accent. God, he needs mind bleach, he wonders if Talia has some sort of short-term amnesia potion or whatever that he can convince her to give him without explaining why. Probably not, luck has never been on his side in the important situations. 

“Are you done?”

Guy smirks at him. “For now.” He answers, swiping Jason’s coffee cup and drinking the rest, grimacing at the bitterness - Guy usually mixes his coffee with copious amounts of sugar. Or, if he’s particularly hungover, sprinkles.

“I am going to meet up with Talia today and end up absentmindedly saying something about Kyle Rayner’s dick, and then after dying from embarrassment and fighting ninjas I’ll have to escape Earth and become a space hermit and it’s gonna be all your fault. I don’t want to be a space hermit Guy! Space is cold!”

“I’m not the one who has a crush on Kyle, so is it really my fault.” Guy argues looking all too content for himself for a man who is going to have to shuttle Jason to space in about five hours.

Jason decides he’s too busy sulking to reply, mixing pancake batter for the both of them.

“Hm. You should convince her to fall in love with John and we could create a club.”

“I’m not gonna do that.”

“Why not? She had a fling with Bats which means her standards are low ‘n John’s a catch, hell I dunno why I fell for Hal rather than him.” Guy comments thoughtfully, completely aware of the inner turmoil he has caused Jason this morning yet doing nothing about it.

“There are probably ninjas watching us right now reporting back to Talia and once they tell her this, you’ll have to join me in my space hermithood.”

Guy just shrugs and turns to the window flipping it and the hypothetical ninja’s off before heading to the bathroom, yelling “Your pancakes burnin, Jace.”

 _Shit_.

* * *

Guy ends up eating the burnt pancake to atone for his sins, although he doesn’t seem to despise it as much as Jason would’ve hoped, only offering “Space food changes you” as an explanation.

They move on after that, and the day goes by pretty fast, 3PM arriving in no-time.

Jason is a little nervous to be honest, he hasn’t seen Talia in a while, and hasn’t kept up with the hero news enough to know if she’s revealed another hidden child (sue him for being a little salty about that) and he doesn’t know if she’ll approved of his spontaneous life choice to move in with Guy or not. In some ways, she represents his ties to the Bat’s as well, she and her father are technically Batman’s rogues, even if they branch out a bit more than most, and Jason has desperately been trying to get rid of those ties. It wasn’t relatively hard with the Bats, he got along with a few of them (mostly Duke and Stephanie) but they weren’t close enough to worry about him dropping off the grid. Talia on the other hand was stubborn, she and Jason were close and she could track him more easily than the Bats could, he couldn’t just kick her out of his life (not that he wanted to). But he was moving on with the help of Roy and Guy, sometimes Kori, he was happier now than he had been in so long, even with Guy harassing him with thoughts or Kyle Rayner’s dick, he didn’t need any Bat or League related business to jeopardize that. 

His fears seem pretty unfounded though, for once.

Talia spots him first, standing on the street corner where the restaurant is located. She pulls him into a short hug before looking him up and down. 

“Habibi.” She greets warmly, her eyes smiling, “You look well. Better.” She decides after a pause.

Jason just grins and pecks her cheek, it really is wonderful to see her, he forgets how much he misses her sometimes. “You too T.”

And he means it, she broke away from her Father a while back and from the looks of it things have finally managed to settle. She’s standing in front of him in casual clothes (all still good quality and fashionable, though), black pants, white heels and a blue patterned blouse. She looks _young_ , Jason realizes. Her hair is pulled back into a neat ponytail so you can see her face, there aren’t any stress lines and the corners of her lips are tiled slightly upwards all of it coming together to make her look like the thirty something year old woman she is, rather than some ageless assassin. She had been stoic and worried last time he’d seen her, it’s good to see her loosen up a little.

She smiles slightly at the comment, before leading them inside and to their table, a little out of the way with slightly dimmer lighting than the rest of the place. Typical Talia.

“How have you been Jason?”

“Hm?” Jason answers slightly distractedly. His phone is vibrating in his pocket, no doubt Guy texting him inappropriate questions to ask.

 _“Pardon me._ How have you been, things have changed since we last caught up” Talia sighs bemusedly.

“Oh right. I’m good. Wasn’t for a bit but, you know.” Jason gestures vaguely, setting his phone on his table. 

“Yes. I know.” Jason snorts lightly at the fondly frustrated tone she uses, oh how he knows it well.

“Yeah, anyways how have you been, T? ‘M sure you’ve had a more interesting time than me and my roommate’s dead plants." Guy had gotten another one this morning, said Jason could help take care of it this time, Jason privately held an early funeral for the poor thing. He was a shit gardener. It was going to die two times as fast. 

He and Talia chatted, conversation was easy, Talia telling him about her recent trip to Shanghai and some of the stuff she and her little group of assassins had been doing. Jason narrowly avoiding getting cuffed on the head after a particularly cheeky suggestion about what her men should have done with the body of one of their targets. Both of them avoided any mention of Gotham and its menagerie of costumed fighters although Jason was pleasantly surprised to find that rather looming over them, the subject only came to the front of his mind a few times, like a slightly lost butterfly. 

The food was nice too which wasn’t a surprise because this was _Talia,_ good food was to be expected. Jason had a Chicken Shawarma and chips, which he struggled slightly to not make a mess of, in his opinion he did a decent job, and Talia had _Chicken Touk_ and _Bulgur_ which Jason not so subtly stole a bit of, when Talia was in the bathroom. 

“You should not take food from other people's plates without asking Habibi, it is unbecoming.”

Jason grins sheepishly, “Would you believe if I said I was checking for poison.”

“I would not.”

Jason clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Dangit, better luck next time.” 

Talia, ever the sensible person she was, pointedly ignored Jason, staring a little bit off to his left as she chewed. Swallowing, she cleared her throat, looking back up at Jason.

“Why did you leave Gotham, Jason? Truth be told it was not something I expected, you seemed fine, though perhaps I should have looked closer.”

“T, no, it’s fine I was hiding it from pretty much everyone, it was easily missed, I honestly don’t know what caused me to leave. B was still being, well, himself and things were still awkward with the Birdies. I just figured there was no real reason I hadn’t left so I did. Didn’t help that this was acting up either.” Jason mused, tapping his scar.

“You didn’t want to try to improve your relationship with them?”

“Honestly? No. I’m not a part of that family anymore, T. As much as they try to convince me, and themselves otherwise. They’ve moved on without me and I kinda moved on from them as well, without noticing. I didn’t want to stick around to push myself into their group dynamics, you know?”

“I suppose.” Talia said thoughtfully, a small hint of sadness in her voice, oh how she had hoped for her two sons to get along. “And your new roommate?”

“Guy? I won’t pretend that you don’t know who he is, don’t look at me like that T, you did background checks on the Outlaws when we first teamed up, I know what you’re like” Jason chuckled. “Guy, he’s good, he found me sitting sadly on a rooftop and decided to invite me to his house, which makes me worry slightly about him trusting random strangers, but he’s nice if a little brash and unorthodox. And he’s helped sort out some of the mental stuff, he has a background in counselling so he knows what he’s talking about, which is good too.” 

“And you trust him?”

“I know it’s only been a short amount of time, ‘specially for someone with my collection of trust issues, but yeah, I do. I don’t know, I trust him and for some reason I want to come back and stay here, it’s weird T.”

“Personally, I think it is good, Jason. You seem happier, do not let yourself stress over it.” Talia says absentmindedly, then she smiles, a more polite version of Guy’s grin this morning and Jason gets this sudden urge to run. “Now Habibi, you must tell me, who is ‘Kyle’?”

Oh right, the universe can’t give him a break.

“You actually were watching this morning? I was joking T!”

Talia levels him with a stare, “I would not send my men to watch you Jason, you know this. Your roommate has been texting you about ‘Kyle’ through this entire meal, accompanied with a winking face - so I am to assume that he means something to you.” 

Jason can slowly feel his face heating up, hoping that the dim light hides his red face, it’s a useless hope, since he sees Talia’s smile widen by a fraction into something more akin to a smirk.

“He’s not, he doesn’t mean anything to me - Guy’s just messing with me” He stutters, failing miserably to convince Talia of anything other than that Kyle definitely does mean something to him.

“Of course, Habibi, how could I ever doubt you?” Talia replies in as smug of a tone she’ll allow herself, signalling for the check as Jason suffers. 

They part ways a few minutes later, with promises to call and tell each if they suddenly move cities with no warning and get a new roommate. Talia also tells Jason to bring Guy along next time which Jason protests but Talia won’t be swayed. She says he sounds like he would have interesting things to say, which is just a thinly veiled way of saying she wants to learn more about this mysterious Kyle person her son is refusing to talk about. Jason pouts and kisses her cheek before starting her walk back to the apartment as Talia gets into her fancy car and drives off.

Jason feels lighter that night, happier now that he’s caught up with Talia, Guy notices it too, mentioning while Jason beats him at cards. Jason spends a full five minutes complaining to Guy about the Kyle Situation, to which he only got a hair ruffle and Guy blowing a raspberry at him.

* * *

The rest of Guy’s injured leave is chill, they tease each other about their respective lantern crushes and visit parts of the town that Jason hasn’t explored yet, they find a small little superhero merch store which Jason adores, he buys a bunch of Lantern Merch as well as some Wonder Woman and Flash Stuff. Guy somehow finds a Red Hood keychain and immediately sticks it on his keys along with his battered Orioles one. 

It’s nice, even if at some points Guy gets antsy and tries to fly off to Metropolis or Star City to piss off one of the Leaguers and Jason has to restrain him. He heals quickly, burns fading into scars that look like big paint splatters on his chest.

 _“All the ladies dig scars Jace, I’ll be irresistible!”_

_“You don’t want the ladies Guy. And ‘m pretty sure Hal would prefer it if you didn’t get hurt.”_

Guy left back for Oa two and a half weeks later, with a pot of leftover Chicken Korma that Jason had forced on him and a Disney Princess plaster on his jaw from the time he tried to start a tickle fight when Jason unprepared. He wore the plaster with pride though, singing Disney songs at random intervals after he had gotten it.

He wished Jason farewell by flying slowly backwards and waving madly at him until he almost flew into a telephone pole. Jason wondered how no one had noticed him.

He turned back inside after that and over watered Guy’s new plant, lovingly named ‘Fuckface McTodd-Gardner’ by the lantern after much consideration. 

He realized later after eating dinner and Face Timing Roy for two hours that if anyone told him last year that he would be happy and out of Gotham, he would never have believed them but goddamn if it wasn’t one of the best choices he’d made.

He switches the TV on in the background, swaying slightly to the music that played, passing the picture had Guy had hung up of the two of them in their clashing Superhero merch and decided that, yeah. He wouldn’t change this for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> check out my tumblr [starboysdcdumpster](https://starboysdcdumpster.tumblr.com/) where i profess my love for guy gardner when you least expect it


End file.
